Dick Blake stands before a crowd of restaurant servers. Waiters and waitresses, hosts and managers fill the room. All are on hand to hear what Cleveland's grand man of manners has to say about the art of the fine dining experience.
"A waiter today is actor, model, entertainer and participant in the dining equation," says the city's most respected etiquette professional. "And if you 'professionalize' yourself, develop the kind of polish that enables you to communicate comfortably with any kind of guest, your earnings can easily double."
Now, there's a notion that strikes a chord with this group. In recent weeks, Blake has expressed his message — a more mannerly Cleveland, what he calls "Polite City, USA" — to staff at such prominent destinations as the Capital Grille at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst and Dante in Cleveland's Tremont district.
For more than 50 years, Blake has been carrying the banner for social niceties and norms, while shifting with the times. During the 1960s, he was a regular on "The Upbeat Show" and "Big 5" for WEWS-TV. He claims more than a million students who've learned everything from table manners to personal grooming, proper attire and even "car etiquette." And he's taught the fine points of intercultural deportment to business leaders who routinely deal with international clients.
Pie in the sky? Some highfalutin', pinkies-up pretensions?
Consider how, not long ago, one of the nation's foremost restaurant critics took Cleveland's service sector to task for its lack of polish.
Just prior to the 2016 Republican National Convention in the city, Washington Post critic Tom Sietsema visited our fair burg. While he heaped praise on 10 Northeast Ohio restaurants, his assessment of the treatment he received was less than glittering:
"One missing ingredient: good service," Sietsema wrote in the July 12, 2016, issue of The Washington Post. "With a handful of exceptions — the upscale Edwins, the happy-go-lucky Mabel's BBQ — most of the places I tried treated this anonymous diner as if I were invisible. At the trendy Butcher and the Brewer, I sat for several long minutes before any of the five faces behind the epic but unbusy bar bothered to make eye contact. At Alley Cat Oyster Bar, I was asked three times by three waiters if I was ready to order. One foot into an otherwise genial Nate's Deli, I was hit with "Can I help you?" — from a woman shouting from a booth in the back. And so on. (A local cab driver had no idea where one of the city's oldest and most beloved institutions, Sokolowski's University Inn, dished out Polish fare.) Suffice it to say, Cleveland hospitality polls 'low energy.' "
This of a city that prides itself in its hometown heartland friendliness. Apparently our self-perception differs markedly from that of an arbiter who observes the comings-and-goings in the nation's capital — an international crossroads.
More than that: Is warm and chummy good enough to compete with the big guys — namely the corps of professional front-of-house staff that populates major travel destinations — when the goal is vying for tourism dollars? Or, for that matter, is "good enough" sufficient to keep ahead in an increasingly competitive climate where literally hundreds of restaurants, taverns and fast-casual eateries are vying for local dining dollars?
Having grown up working in local restaurants, then observing them as a food journalist and critic, I have seen that it's no secret many servers aren't particularly keen to serve. Maybe it's a kind of blue-collar pride. Time and again, I've heard some voice resentment over a role perceived as servile and demeaning.
Yet legions earn healthy wages in top restaurants — a station achieved through practice and polish.
Nick Soike, managing partner of Capital Grille in Lyndhurst, said the difference between a professional server and an "order taker" becomes evident during the well-managed hiring process. Great energy, great personality and a great sense of hospitality are essential.
"From the get-go, the key issue is identifying talent," Soike said. "We assess an individual team member's assets from the earliest stages of recruitment. Our No. 1 reason to hire a server is, during the interview, they show and express a real commitment to hospitality. As the questions roll, can they present stories that show they are really guest-centric? We truly believe our trainers can take someone who may not have 20 years' experience and train them on the wine and food aspects. It's a different matter if they have limitations as to whether they do or don't have a deeper sense of hospitality."
From there, it's the old "you never get a second chance to make a first impression," Blake said.
He practically shudders when he talks about what he calls the "Neanderthal grunts" that pass as greetings and other interactions often lobbed at guests.
" 'You guys,' " he said, groaning as he recalled such rude familiarity expressed by ill-mannered servers to older patrons.
Dante Boccuzzi recalls the first words Blake spoke when the restaurateur brought him in for a training session. (Boccuzzi also operates Dante Next Door, Ginko, Coda and other restaurants in Greater Cleveland and Akron.)
"He said to my staff, 'All you have to do is say, 'Good morning,' 'Good afternoon,' 'Good evening,' 'I'm so glad you're joining us,' 'May I suggest …' It's language you rarely hear from servers these days, but it sets a whole different tone of professionalism and welcoming," Boccuzzi said.
From there, it's training staff about the importance of attention to detail, Julian Bruell said.
"It's a matter of making sure every server and host is aware of the importance of making guests feel welcome from the moment they step through your doors to the goodbye as they leave. It's checking after each course has been set before them to make sure they have everything they want or need," Bruell said.
At age 28, Bruell has worked in some of New York City's most acclaimed dining destinations — among them actor Robert De Niro's Tribeca Grill in lower Manhattan and Jean-Georges restaurant in the tony Columbus Circle neighborhood. He's also the son of one of Cleveland's most exacting chef-restaurateurs, Zack Bruell.
Today, Julian Bruell is responsible for staff training at Collision Bend Brewing Co. on the Flats' East Bank and for the Zack Bruell Restaurant Group, which includes L'Albatros Brasserie, Parallax, Chinato, Cowell & Hubbard and Alley Cat Oyster Bar.
He considers it folly to believe that service is anything less than a lucrative career.
"For a long time, everyone wanted to be chefs and sommeliers, and of course those can be remarkable career tracks," he said, nodding to the achievements tallied by his father. "But today, in the front of the house, there are so many opportunities in Cleveland, and with so much competition for skilled servers and managers, I think it's seen more as a career. You can make a very good living with the right training."
It's more than knowing the proper sequence of flatware and crystal, serving from the left and other quaint antiquities (though such talents are increasingly in demand among the top echelons of international business). Polite comportment, a welcoming demeanor and an engaging personality are all part of the equation.
"Servers are sales representatives. They're a restaurant's main connection with customers," Blake said. "The price to get a customer into your establishment is very high, what with advertising, social media, word of mouth, promotions and all the other devices a business employs to draw business. So in today's world, you just can't afford to have (patrons) walk right out the door due to poor demeanor or service."
https://www.crainscleveland.com/table/great-service-can-be-restaurants-secret-ingredient 2019-01-06 09:00:00Z
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